Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

[ProdigyofZen]

http://www.centralbanking.com/centra...erves-role-sdr

So let me get this straight, DSK suggests the world start using the SDR as a reserve currency in Feb 2011, not three months later a "scandel" hits and DSK is usurped from power at the IMF?

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...072205,00.html

Quite interesting. Could the US have been displeased with him voicing concern over the dollar's hegemony and his suggestion of using the SDR for world trade?

Stop me if I am being a bit out of whack please.

[Master Shake]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

I am not a conspiracy theorist, not by a long shot, but the events in this situation do not appear to be coincidence.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

I am not a conspiracy theorist, not by a long shot, but the events in this situation do not appear to be coincidence.

In this case, Shake, I'm with you. Ever since his arrest was tweeted from Montreal before it happened by a former Sarkozy intern (detailing the wrong location), I was certain. There have been new details that point in this direction as well. This is beyond the phone calls to drug dealers in prison and $80k wired to the bank account of the accuser from several different states in $10k increments...

The most unusual evidence described by Epstein is a security video of the hotel's engineer, Brian Yearwood, and an unidentified man apparently celebrating the day's events. Earlier, Yearwood had been communicating with John Sheehan, a security expert at Accor, which owns Sofitel, and whose boss, René-Georges Querry, once worked with a man now in intelligence for Sarkozy.

The unidentified man with Yearwood had been spotted previously on hotel security cameras accompanying Diallo to the hotel's security office after the alleged attack. The video shows the men near the area where Diallo is recounting her story and, less than two minutes after police have been called, they seem to congratulate each other. "The two men high-five each other, clap their hands, and do what looks like an extraordinary dance of celebration that lasts for three minutes. They are then shown standing by the service door … apparently waiting for the police to arrive," Epstein writes.

[ProdigyofZen]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

If we have gone to war in the name of dollar hegemony, I would not put it past the "people in charge" of framing DSK and getting him removed from the IMF

[Prazak]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

If we have gone to war in the name of dollar hegemony, I would not put it past the "people in charge" of framing DSK and getting him removed from the IMF

I wouldn't put it past U.S. law enforcement officials to set someone up. Elliott Spitzer quickly comes to mind. But wasn't DSK going to be vacating his post anyway a few months later to run for the French presidency? Felling him for supporting SDR would seem unnecessary in that case, no? Felling him in conspiracy with Sarkozy, whom he surely would have unseated, seems more likely, particularly given how Sarko has dealt with other rivals over the years (e.g., de Villepin).

[ProdigyofZen]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

Was the de Villepin reference to the count of monte cristo? haha. If not then I don't know the reference.

Well why would you want the president of France to push for the SDR's use. The French president could concievably allow the SDR to be used in it's French Central Bank just like the IMF did with Jamaica. France isn't exactly at the periphery of the IMS.

[Starving Steve]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

If I have a fiat $100-bill from America, and I have a fiat $100-bill from Canada, and similarly a 100 pound note from the UK, and maybe a 100 peso note from Mexico, a 100 Yuan note from China, and more of the same fiat 100's from other countries in the world, do you mean to tell me that the sum of all the fiat currencies is something better than the fiat parts?

Let me try this SDR logic with U.S. fiat: Do you mean to tell me that 1 x $100-bill in U.S. fiat money is worth more than 100 x $1 fiat bills? So if I call my $100 bill an SDR, that SDR is worth more than 100 x $1 bills?

And if an SDR is something "special", what can I do with it? Can I draw on gold reserves at $35 per ounce? Can I draw oil reserves at 35-cents per gallon?

Suppose the 100 Yuan note is popular to-day but $100 U.S. notes are not popular. Then, if I bundle the world currencies together and include the U.S. and the Chinese, then my bundle is an SDR. But why would that SDR be better than the components of the bundle, some popular to-day and some not so popular?

And for this insanity, this make-believe valuable currency or valuable "special drawing-right", what do we get for the SDR?

And when we get no more for the SDR than for the sum of the fiat that makes-up the SDR, the entire scheme deflates away to a waste of everyone's time and confidence. And that begs the question: What genius thought-up SDRs backed by fiat money?

The insane argument for an SDR was the supposed need for liquidity, especially in the turd-world. But wouldn't the best way to have liquidity be to run the world's printing-presses faster? Or if the turd-world needs pesos or their other fiat garbage, wouldn't turning their printing-presses onto "high" work just as well as introducing new crisp SDRs in addition to their new crisp pesos?

Who was the genius at the Federal Reserve Bank or the World Bank who thought-up SDRs backed by fiat money? Was it Arthur Burns, the genius who helped finance the Vietnam War with paper money and to drive inflation to 20% per year? Or was it Alan Greenspan, the genius who would speak three pages of Greenspanese to explain why 100 fiat parts ( from all over the world ) would be less valuable than 1 SDR backed with nothing and supposedly ( in one's imagination ) good everywhere in the world?

The more one reviews the history of central banking, the more one is amazed.....

[oddlots]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

It's turtles all the way down SS. Promise.

[Starving Steve]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

Greece needs more liquidity to-day so that the Greeks can continue to sip wine in outdoor cafes until mid-night. So, since the Greeks need more liquidity, why can't their govn't print-up more Drachma?

Since the Bank of Greece doesn't want inflation, they are afraid to print more fiat. So, the B.of G. might distribute Euros--- a more popular or "stronger" fiat currency. But now as the Euro weakens because of the mess in Greece, not to mention the mess in the other nations of the PIGS, fiat money from anywhere is being questioned. Even the U.S. Dollar is barely steady or declining against gold and oil..... This is where we are now...

So, why would grouping Dollars with Euros, Yuan, Yen, Drachma, Pesos, Shekels, C$, A$, NZ$, Rubles, Pound. et.al, and creating a new world fiat currency called the SDR solve the problem of confidence in fiat money? Sure, initially the problem of confidence might be solved, but then the issue of liquidity shortages begins.......

The Greeks want to sip wine until mid-night in outdoor cafes, etc. Kiwis have political-correctness issues to ponder. Brits need more green policies and green taxes. Americans need more election primaries, political speeches, and hand-shakes. Canadians need more government and more laws. Icelanders need more banking schemes..... But who pays the bills in the world? Which nation keeps the lights on? Who does the dirty work to keep the world fed, clothed, fueled and humming?

When the bills start coming in, who pays for whom? Do the Germans bail-out the PIGS with Euros, or with greenbacks or with the new SDRs; how many, how often, and on what terms? ( This is exactly where we are now. )

When America goes completely bankrupt, and no-one wants greenbacks, would China bail-out America? If so, would the rescue be with unwanted greenbacks, or in Yuan, or in the new SDRs? And if there might not be enough SDRs to bail-out America, how many SDRs would have to be printed by the World Bank? Who would decide? How? And how often?

What are the limits on the printing of the new SDR currency when other nations need rescues? Who decides? Who gets to be bailed-out next? What if the world loses confidence in the World Bank, then what happens to the SDRs outstanding? Who trusts whom, and who trusts what fiat? In the end, who trusts in what, and how is that transition going to work?..... Might the final stage or final act be mixes of greenbacks with Yuan and SDRs? Or would the world go directly to oil and gold. Would SDRs be redeemable directly into oil and gold?

All of this should have been thought about when the gold window was closed on the dollar in 1971, but we had a fiat- money moron running the Federal Reserve Bank at that time, Arthur Burns.

[Prazak]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

Was the de Villepin reference to the count of monte cristo? haha. If not then I don't know the reference.

Well why would you want the president of France to push for the SDR's use. The French president could concievably allow the SDR to be used in it's French Central Bank just like the IMF did with Jamaica. France isn't exactly at the periphery of the IMS.

There's this new thing called Google ... Typing "de Villepin" into it will bring you more than you'll want to know about Dominique de Villepin.

I think it was a previous French president who coined the term "exhorbitant privilege" in discussing the USD as the reserve currency. And Sarkozy has done his share of talking up alternatives to a USD-centric monetary system and promoting "multipolarism". Chirac (and his eloquent foreign minister and prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, hand-picked by Chirac over Sarkozy as his successor on the "right", such as it is in French politics) led the opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and tried to wrestle command over the U.S. Sixth Fleet as the price for France's reentry into NATO.

Competing with the U.S. and periodically frustrating its goals are what French presidents do. DSK's profile is not at all so uniquely anti-American as to incentivize U.S. authorities to set him up for a criminal indictment. It was, however, threatening to a certain small, Machiavellian French politician with a Napoleon complex and a history of seeing his political rivals turned into convicted criminals. If there is a conspiracy it more probably originated within Sarkozy's circles than down at Langley.

[photon555]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

It's turtles all the way down SS. Promise.

+1
Why do so many people love to stack turtles? I guess because they look impressive. At least when real turtles fall down you can make turtle soup. What can you make with failed fiat? Only confetti, I suppose.

[gnk]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

Greece needs more liquidity to-day so that the Greeks can continue to sip wine in outdoor cafes until mid-night.

Economically, it's actually pretty bad here in Greece. Sales taxes, which also affect cafes and bars are up to 23% for most goods! Property taxes are being levied for the first time, and government workers are watching their salaries drop 30-40% - same with retiree benefits.

The Greek bailouts are actually banker bailouts - it's not to keep Greeks sipping wine until midnight.

Prior to the Euro, when Greece was less of an entrance to the EU by illegal immigrants, Greece had the lowest crime rates in Europe, had more industry, and yes, was not that wealthy. But people got by and lived well.

And as far as I can remember, regardless of economic status, they still sipped wine until midnight.

Here in Greece, that's called living.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

Economically, it's actually pretty bad here in Greece. Sales taxes, which also affect cafes and bars are up to 23% for most goods! Property taxes are being levied for the first time, and government workers are watching their salaries drop 30-40% - same with retiree benefits.

The Greek bailouts are actually banker bailouts - it's not to keep Greeks sipping wine until midnight.

Prior to the Euro, when Greece was less of an entrance to the EU by illegal immigrants, Greece had the lowest crime rates in Europe, had more industry, and yes, was not that wealthy. But people got by and lived well.

And as far as I can remember, regardless of economic status, they still sipped wine until midnight.

Here in Greece, that's called living.

Just curious. How did you find this website?

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

...explain why 100 fiat parts ( from all over the world ) would be less valuable than 1 SDR backed with nothing and supposedly ( in one's imagination ) good everywhere in the world?.....

I hate to become conspiratorial, but the difference I see is that citizens of countries all over the world have some influence on the management of their local currency. The SDR, on the other hand (from Wikipedia, emphasis mine):

Special drawing rights (SDRs) are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Same fiat junk, but under the control of different people. Those people therefor prefer it.

[gnk]

Re: Dominique Strass-Kahn suggests use of SDR to create a more stable world monetary order

I found this site before I went to Greece. I was born and raised in the US, lived there all my life. Now I have dual citizenship and live in Greece. Long story... Found the website back in 2007 when I was still in the US, and saw what was going to happen to the financial industry. People I knew called me crazy back then for thinking all hell will break loose. So I searched around the internet for like minded people. A few google searches later... found the econoblogosphere, including this site.